The circulating nurse’s role in the operating room consists of being the patient advocate, being the right-hand nurse for the surgeon and surgical technicians, and providing safety for the patient. The circulating nurse keeps the patient’s wishes as the highest priority in the operating room. Because of the sterile field, it is the circulating nurse’s job to get all the supplies that may not be readily available in the operating room. For example, if the surgeon needs more sutures than are available, it is the circulating nurse’s job to run and get them and have them ready for the surgeon to use. As far as providing safety for a patient, if a lap pad were to go into an open cavity in the patient’s body, the circulating nurse would document it, and before the surgeon closes the patient up the nurse will count all the sutures and pads and make sure that one is not …show more content…
It is also the job of the nurse to stay with the patient to make sure the patient regains consciousness and is safe. These protocols help to further build patient trust. The nurse’s primary assessment is to make sure the patient’s vital signs are at baseline and there are no abnormalities that were not previously noted. The OR was a great experience for me personally. I learned first hand what the patients go through, and I feel like I can better empathize with my patients now that I have been through this